Lindsey Buckingham new s/t album (9-17-21) ...and supporting tour*

THOSE 2 were favorite songs from the original GOS Napster download I have. Would absolutely LOVE to see them get a release in pristine quality. I was looking out for them on his previously released albums, especially DD. He was channeling Tusk on that one. Alas, I'm doubtful it will happen now.

 

Yeah unfortunately not until his passing.

 

Oops! I just realized that Lindsey did not perform on I Am Not a Woman, I'm a God and only performed on Darling.

 

I guess the new one's doing pretty well (relatively speaking). This has peaked at #12 on the Billboard 200, and he's beaten that only twice outside of Fleetwood Mac: #5 with the album he did with Christine McVie (basically Fleetwood Mac without Stevie Nicks) and #11 with the Solo Anthology compilation.

So basically his highest-charting non-compilation solo album. (Law and Order comes in a distant second, peaking at #32.)

Lindsey Buckingham | Billboard

 

Looks like I'm mistaken, those chart numbers are for actual album sales. For the pre-streaming stuff, that more or less matches the Billboard 200, but after that the differences get enormous. He does well with album sales but the streaming numbers are comparatively much lower.

 

Yeah, it's a truly odd thing when the "chart topper" sells about 800 copies and 10 million streams or something like that. I don't know who (or care) who's currently number one but I've seen that in the past few years.
Just feels odd to me.

 

It's really screwy how the Billboard 200 has evolved. They no longer separate catalog items, so you have all these decades-old all-time best-selling classic rock and pop albums on the list thanks to streaming alone. I understand why you need to include streaming, but there are still problems in how you weigh streams. When I'm traveling or away from home, I'll stream albums I already own on Spotify, but should that be counted like it's re-acquiring the album?

 

Excellent interview in Tape Op:

Lindsey Buckingham: Staying Grounded & Creative

 

It’s good to read an interview where he isn’t asked about all the Stevie and band BS. This one focused on Lindsey and his writing and recording process.

 

Heh heh - oops!

Lindsey Buckingham Accidentally Plagiarizes "Swan Song," Gives Credit to Blinker the Star and Medicine Songwriters | Exclaim!

and

Meet the Songwriters Behind the Best Song on Lindsey Buckingham's New Album

A statement from Lindsey's management:

“Following the recent release of Lindsey’s self titled album, it was brought to his attention that significant elements of the song ‘Swan Song’, had come from a song that had been shared with him more than 20 years ago while he was working in a Los Angeles studio, producing some music for Brad Laner and Jordon Zadorozny. When this unintentional and inadvertent usage was raised to Lindsey, he quickly realised his mistake and a friendly resolution was made by all parties.”​

And - that looks to be the case. The original songwriters seemed thrilled the song got released - and approve of Lindsey's version:

“It’s magnificent,” says Laner. “He made it his own, and that’s a thrill. I have zero complaints about that.”

“There’s almost no one else whose album I’d rather have my music on,” says Zadorozny. “I’m grateful to Lindsey for rediscovering this piece of music and I love what he did with it.”​

Cheers,
Paul

 

Anyone seen the tour? I'm almost inclined to go, but he's had a lousy drummer who can't do the Tusk solo, and that's a deal breaker this time. Maybe he has a new one on this incarnation?

 

Yup. It was my first indoor show post-Covid lockdown (back in September). I can’t comment on the drummer specifically, but the show was great, and Lindsey sounded great, all things considered. I’m so, so glad I went.

 

I just got back from the show tonight. He's got a new drummer, but this one is not any better than the last one, IMHO. In fact, there were a ton of pre-recorded drum machine tracks trying to mask that fact.

They didn't even attempt the drum breakdown in "Tusk." Instead, there was a somewhat avant garde musical passage in its place. Not bad, actually. But not as satisfying as the original, obviously.

And his band, while decent singers, could not pull off the vocal parts on any of the Mac material. Also, Lindsey transposed many of his vocals into lower registers, as he obviously could no longer hit those notes, but even so, he still struggled in places.

The show, on the whole, was okay. Lot of die-hard deep cuts, but precious few crowd-pleasers. Lindsey was in his serious artist mode on this tour. And that's fine. But that's not what people, myself included, were going to an amphitheater expecting to see.

The only Mac songs he played were "Never Going Back Again," "Big Love," "Go Your Own Way," "Second Hand News," "Tusk," and "I'm So Afraid." And of those six, only two ("Go Your Own Way" and "Tusk") got much crowd response.

Also, no "Go Insane" or "Holiday Road." And the only two cuts from Out of the Cradle were "Soul Drifter" and "Doing What I Can."

This was a show that might have been better suited for an intimate venue like HOB. And judging by how far this show undersold (maybe a quarter of the seats were filled), that might have been a better idea. They're probably taking a bath on this one.

Many of those in attendance had already left long before the show was over. And those who remained were mostly very quiet on the way out of the venue.

Still, glad I went. But I'm not ranking it as one of my best shows of the year. Not by a long shot. Like I said, not bad. But don't get FOMO over this one.

 

I'll dissent from Dolphin's opinion. We really liked it. Yes, he tuned down a little as the concert neared end, so stuff like I'm So Afraid and Go Your Own Way sounded good but were tuned down a little. He was at or really close to original key on songs earlier in the set, and we were in fact really pleased with the tone, power, and accuracy in his voice. Also was really good the quieter, more intimate stuff. Playing, guitar tone, and the sound mix were excellent. Indeed, upper level (we were at front of it, which was a good view) was not heavily sold. But looking down, lower level looked fairly full. And the crowd was enthusiastic. These were mostly people older than me (so 55+) and as such, I would expect them all noisy walking out. Applause was enthusiastic. I very much liked the news songs he chose, and some of the arrangement tricks like stereo field backing vocals were a nice sound. My son came a long and really enjoyed. He's interested in production and commented specifically on that. We also both liked the drummer and had no issues with how he chose to do the "Tusk" break. Maybe the best thing: very, very rare to see a performer in his/her 70s bring that kind of intensity to the stage. Backing vocals were excellent throughout, and I felt the parts in the Fleetwood Mac songs were arranged in a way that really worked. Might have actually balanced the sound a little better since you didn't have that highly distinctive (but basically like a braying sheep) voice of Stevie Nicks in the mix. I appreciated that.

Also nice to see Brett Tuggle play again. Haven't seen him since David Lee Roth, a LONG time ago.

 

I think I would agree with Dolphins that the type of show and music (especially with Lindsey having some more intimate passages and almost quite/breathy singing) probably is a better fit for a theater. That would also allow a closer view for the upper level since theaters tend to be sloped more. Smart Financial Centre is a really large venue. Not a stadium but MUCH larger than almost all theaters. It's more the size of venue that I might expect Brian Wilson/Chicago to play. But the people next to us mentioned seeing Kansas there so they obviously are OK with not fully selling it out. It's relatively new so with losses in the pandemic, they may need to keep a minimum level of use to keep up on the "financing."

The music had a lot of fine details, like smaller/lighter percussion and stereo field stacked backing vocals (and/or vocal samples, which were also used really creatively). But a very nice thing here, at least from our seat, was that the sound mix, volume level, clarity, etc. was truly outstanding. Maybe the best I've ever heard in a venue of that size. I often don't like the sound much at bigger venues like that, but even everyone around us was commenting on how good the sound was.

You can get a feel for how enormous it is in this photo.



We ran into another family, what appeared to be a mother-daughter duo with the daughter about same as my son (15-16). She mentioned really enjoying the music which was kind of cool, and she was perhaps overjoyed to run into someone nearer her age on the way out. But I could hear here saying things that she liked about the songs as she was discussing it with him. And my son, who normally isn't big on extended guitar solos, specifically commented on how much he liked the "long outtro" of "I'm So Afraid" for the way the guitar solo built. I've heard that one so many times that it's not such a big deal for me, but it was interesting that he seemed to latch onto that. And indeed, Lindsey's guitar tone on the electric solos was just really, really good.

 

I was fourth row center at the show. And the few times I left to go to the restroom, I could see that the ushers had moved everyone downstairs into the front section of the level, which may have given it the impression (from the balcony) of being full.

But when you walked from the fourth row back to the exits, you could see that the seats in the downstairs were, at best, half-full. There was no one seated downstairs from about halfway-back. And as I scanned the balcony, it looked far, far more sparse.

This has been somewhat typical for the pandemic. When I saw .38 Special, Cheap Trick, and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (all separate shows) at Houston's "H-Town" Arena Theatre, each time, they had cordoned off an entire half of the venue's seating, due to poor sales.

And at the Doobie Brothers show at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, they gave us seating upgrades from lawn to very good seated seats. So, this kind of underselling is certainly not specific to Lindsey. But his was the most dramatic case I'd seen so far this year.

Almost all of the songs from the first part of the set were more recent material (Gift of Screws, Seeds We Sow, etc.), and he did indeed sound quite good on these songs, although the audience was mostly unfamiliar with the material, which led to an overall lack of enthusiasm, despite a very impassioned performance from Lindsey.

Also, his guitar-playing was incredible, as ever. It just often seemed to be the kind of playing that would have mesmerized a small theater, but got a bit lost in a larger setting.

The crowd where I was sitting was all ages. There were people ranging from twenty-somethings with kids (I saw one very bored kid about nine years old standing in the front row with his head leaning against the stage) to retirees and everything in between.

One thing I noticed (and if you've ever been a church-goer, you'll understand this analogy) is that the few people (I'd say maybe 5-10% - and you could pick them out) who were consistently enthusiastic during the performance often gave the impression of people attending a sermon where the pastor is droning a bit, and so they try to offer a few choice "Amen's" to perhaps generate a bit more enthusiasm and inspire the pastor out of his lethargy.

That's almost how it felt here. The kind of cheers I often heard were things like "Come on, Lindsey!" and "We love you!" But again, it was usually coming from the same 5-10% of the people in the venue. And it often felt a bit like wishful thinking.

Very telling, to me, was the fact that almost nobody in front, no matter what their age, was standing up during the majority of the show. In the entire front section, there were about half-a-dozen women who stood up and started clapping when he played "Second Hand News" (song 15), and they remained standing for the rest of the normal 18-song set. About two dozen more people got up during "Tusk." But most of the rest of the front section didn't get on their feet until "Go Your Own Way," which was the last song of the regular set.

This is very unusual for an event like this. The front section is almost always standing, regardless of their age, and regardless of what the rest of the venue may be doing. When I saw .38 Special, there were literally Boomer couples dancing in the aisles. It was that kind of show.

I have rarely seen an audience at a "rock show" so reserved as the one here. But that was befitting for the very subdued nature of the show. As Rosskolnikov mentioned, a lot of "breathy singing" over hushed backing for long stretches.[/QUOTE]

I found a lot of the arrangement tricks to be a bit distracting. It's one thing to have prerecorded stereo field backing vocals and drum loops and samples on an album. It's quite another thing to have them dominate a live performance.

And in this case, while the songs he played from the new album (which is fantastic) were all good choices, they felt a bit hampered by being tied to a click track and triggers. Although, as I said, this drummer's deficiencies would have been far more apparent without them. I am a drummer myself, and up close, I could observe exactly what this drummer was doing without augmentation. Not much.

I thought the backing vocals were mostly spot-on with Lindsey's solo songs. It was only on the Mac songs where their shortcomings came into focus. And that "braying sheep" voice of Stevie's has always been a fundamental part of the Mac sound. Her rough voice and Christine's crystal-clear smooth voice often provided the perfect counterparts to Lindsey's impassioned howling and yelping.

And I'm not saying you needed to find vocal doppelgangers for Stevie and Christine, but his band members' vocals just sounded a bit anemic by comparison on the Mac songs. YMMV.

Finally, I've been thinking about this: Lindsey mentioned, towards the end of the show, that he had written and recorded most of the songs from the new album around three years ago, and he had the album nearly ready for release before the pandemic hit.

I can't help but wonder if he would have put on a different, more vibrant, crowd-pleasing show if he was touring on a brand-new, fresh set of songs that he couldn't wait to share with the audience. Three years removed, these performances, at times, almost felt perfunctory, like he was going through the motions, but had lost a great deal of the initial enthusiasm he might have had. Just a thought. Anyway, like I said, I'm glad I went. I just wouldn't call it a great show. YMMV.

 

BTW, if anyone's interested in the setlist for the tour, he's essentially playing the same set each night. The setlist hasn't been posted for the Houston show last night, but here's the identical one from Dallas the night before:

Lindsey Buckingham Setlist at Majestic Theatre, Dallas

 

That's cool he's playing Time. I really have grown fond of that song!

Cheers,
Paul

 

He mentioned specifically, when he introduced the song at the end of the show, that when he first wrote the song, he had only a superficial grasp of its meaning, but over the past several years, its meaning has added in depth and poignancy. And yes, it is a very cool song, indeed.

 

Um! He didn't write Time

 

Whoops! Sorry, I misspoke. When he first heard the song. Sorry. It's been a long day.

 

Maybe there's a Lindsey tour thread, but anyway ...

Due to unforeseen circumstances and out of an abundance of caution, we’re forced to cancel the rest of Lindsey’s current North American tour due to members of the touring party testing positive for Covid. All tickets will be refunded. We hope Lindsey will be back in Town soon! (https://twitter.com/LBuckingham)

P.S. I think this is just one show, tonight's. Weird.

 

I hope there are no adverse implications for the upcoming European tour dates.

 

3 shows - Tysons, Louisville, and Memphis Beale Festival. Hope everyone who is sick recuperates and heals fast and completely.

 

No, My show in VA was canceled last Thursday afternoon, hours before showtime. I have only had two concerts canceled on me the day of the show, this one, and Fleetwood Mac during The Dance tour. Hate to see that it is refunded, like there's no hope of a re-schedule.